Propel NY Energy: The Underground Backbone for Offshore Wind

I · What the grid operator found

NYISO, the New York Independent System Operator, is the nonprofit that runs the state's bulk power grid and its wholesale markets. It has a process called public policy transmission planning: when the state sets an energy goal the existing wires cannot deliver, NYISO can declare a Public Policy Transmission Need (a formal finding that new transmission is required to meet a policy the state has adopted) and then run a competition to pick who builds it.

For Long Island, the policy is offshore wind. The state's climate law calls for a large buildout of offshore wind (roughly 9 gigawatts by 2035, per the state's stated target), and much of the early power is set to come ashore on Long Island and the Rockaways, where the local grid cannot push that much energy westward into the city and beyond. NYISO found that need, took proposals, and in 2024 selected Propel NY Energy to meet it.

II · What Propel NY actually builds

Propel NY Energy is a joint venture of established transmission companies, not a startup, and what it proposes is unglamorous by design: buried cable and substations, not towers. At last public report the project is on the order of 90 miles of new 345 kilovolt underground transmission (345,000 volt lines, the backbone class used for long distance bulk power), tying Long Island into substations in the Bronx and Queens and across Westchester.

Because the route runs through dense, built-up land and open water, long stretches go under streets and under the water, including crossings of the East River and Long Island Sound. Undergrounding costs far more per mile than overhead lines, which is part of why the price is what it is. Construction of a project this size takes years, and in-service dates on transmission routinely slip as easements, permits, and local objections work through, so treat any single completion year you see as a target, not a promise.

III · Who pays, and the honest math

Here is where your bill comes in. Under NYISO's rules, the cost of a public policy transmission project is spread across electric customers statewide, roughly in proportion to how much load each utility's customers draw (a load ratio share). That means Con Edison and PSEG Long Island customers near the line pay, and so do customers of upstate utilities who will never touch a Propel NY cable.

In NYISO's selection record the total price has been described as on the order of a few billion dollars, and the per customer effect depends on the final cost, the financing, and how many years the recovery is spread over, none of which is fully settled. The honest version is that it is a real addition to the transmission portion of bills statewide, likely modest per month for a typical home but not zero, and the exact figure will not be knowable until the Public Service Commission and NYISO finish the cost work. If anyone quotes you a precise monthly number today, be skeptical.

IV · Worth watching this month

1. Watch NYISO's public policy transmission planning page for updated project milestones and any revised in-service dates on the Long Island need.

2. Watch the Public Service Commission's filings for the cost allocation and recovery decisions that will set what shows up on bills.

3. Watch for local permitting and environmental review notices in the Queens, Bronx, and Westchester communities along the route, which is usually where schedules actually move.

4. Watch NYSERDA's offshore wind updates, since the value of this line depends on how much wind actually gets built and when.

5. Watch the transmission component of your own Con Edison delivery charge over the next few years, because that is the line this project will eventually touch.